You can tell Jackie Chan is starting to get that little bit older. He’s still moving along just fine, but his Hollywood workload of late is turning to kid-friendly films – requiring less of his well known crazy stunts and more of the cheesy acting. Playing it safe isn’t a negative, but the material usually has to be good in order to pull it off. Although teaming up with Billy Ray Cyrus (arguably the most famous dad in the world), this film plays it too safe and brings you only a smidgeon of charm and laughter.

To be fair, The Spy Next Door has a promising opening, with the credit sequence’s grainy footage showing Jackie Chan doing all kinds of stunts to a great ‘spy’ score. It also has a fun premise from kid-friendly director Brian Levant; loaded with cheese nonetheless… Chan plays Bob Ho, the geeky pen importer and boyfriend/next-door-neighbour to Gillian (Amber Valetta) who really has a secret identity of a Chinese agent working with American authorities. An eleventh hour call sees Bob in action to catch baddie Poldark (Magnus Scheving) while babysitting Gillian’s three children. The story works fine with a linear plot and doesn’t drag as we discover a bit about the characters. Son Ian’s (Will Shadley) major issue with life is important and kept highlighted in a light and cutesy way, as is with the youngest child Nora (Alina Foley) – her Halloween outfit is a major concern. These are the two most likeable as oldest Farren (Madeline Carroll) becomes petulant and rather annoying.

It’s the over-the-top feel of the film that lets everything down, especially from the guy who brought us great cheesy kids flicks like The Flinstones and Jingle All The Way. Levant lets the acting go too cringe worthy on the side of the baddies particularly, with Iceland’s favourite man Scheving and Katherine Boecher as Poldark’s hitwoman Creel largely overdoing the Russian accents. While acceptable in some films for sarcastic effect, it just doesn’t work here. You can’t take Valetta as Gillian seriously when her and Chan are together, while the main man hams it up to ill effect. His persona as spy extraordinaire is the better side of him, with better interaction between Chan and young Shadley. After his work in TV’s Dirty Sexy Money, Shadley as Ian is the most interesting because his character’s given the most to work with. Not to mention that he’s also got a decent charm for such a young kid. Mister Cyrus as Bob’s ally Colton is probably the most normal of the lot, and while the role’s not a stretch for him he holds his ground.

Verdict:

The Spy Next Door isn’t great holiday fare for the kiddies, proving live action films need to step up their game to hold their own against the slew of animated films vying for the youth’s attention.

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